China's Lunar Calendar 2014 04-17

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦

LEFT April 19 ........................................................................................................April 12 RIGHT

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. 

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.

Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left
十
七

四期星

Fourth Month, Seventeenth Day

Astral Period Four
Thursday, April 17

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Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十時
靈德

Timely Virtue
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子

吉中凶
酉己丑

吉吉中
戌午寅
凶中凶

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 In-Between
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Auspicious
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 In-Between

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.

————————————————— 

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
苫置
蓋產

Setting-up Factories
Thatched Coverings

—————————————————  

 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

十
八
戊
午
火
角
滿

Eighteenth Day (Third Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: wuwu (55/60)

Phase (element): Fire

Constellation: Horn (1/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Fullness (3/12)

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Section Six
Appropriate Activities
(and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

————
土
王
用
事
————
宜
理祭
髮祀
安出
牀行
結會
綱友
債
不
復灾
喪煞

Earth King Usage Affairs
(one of five seventy-two day divisions of the solar calendar that 
correspond to the "five phases" of Chinese cosmology)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Going Out (and about)
Meeting Friends
Patterning Hair
Positioning Beds
Binding Nets

Debt Not

Baleful Astral Influences

Baleful Disaster

Repeat Mourning

————
 Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left) 
白 水
White, Water
————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Information 
(Top to bottom; right to left)
房
碓 牀

House
Pestle, Bed